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G. Nl. BICKNELL AND H. H. C. WEED. FLOATING BEARING. APLlcATloN FILED 1uLY15. 191s.

'1 ,$24,373. Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

' speed shafting to travel, inresponse to cen-- enoncnivr. RICKNIILL,` or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ANDHUGII H. WERDQOr-STQIQOIIIS,

MISSOURI, AssIGNoRs To THE CARTER CARBURETER COMPANY, orfsT. LOUIS, MIS- sOURI,y A CORPORATION or MISSOURI.

' y ,TLOATING BEARING.

To all rwhom t may concern: Y

Be i Vknown that we, GEORGE M. BICK NELL and vHUGH H. C WVEED, citizens of the United States, and residing at `Detroit,'in the county of I/Vayne, Michigan, and at St.

Louis, in the County of St. Louis, Missouri, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floating Bearings, of which the following is a speci cation.

This invention relates-to` attachments for bearings adapted for application to rotating shafts, and more particularly to shafts which are subjected to high speed rotation. The primary object of the invention is the prevention of the whipping of shafts.v

The generally accepted idea ofthe so# called whipping is the tendency of Yhigh trifugal force, ina circle larger than the diameter of the shaft. This circular travelthe shaft Awhich are subjected to thegwhip- Y ping action are located between the fixed' bearings. The circle of travel'of'the whippingportions would manifestly be around a` center which is the center of the fshaftwhen it is at rest. It will be very readily underj stood that the whipping action is exceedingly destructive to the'fixed bearings and to the shaftitself.

As before stated, a whipping shaft travels in a circle larger than-its own diameter. Our conception is that any discouragement of the tendency of the shaft to travel in a true circle, by destroying or retarding its continuity of movement, Vor impulse in a xed circular direction, will tend to cause the shaft to more nearly assume its normalwv straight alinement.

` The invention is especially adapted-,for

automobile shafting but it is to be clearly v understood'that it may be' advantageously used on any high speed shafts. In automobile drive shafts a very large percentage of the destructive wear on universal joints is occasioned by shaft Whipping. This wear has caused the adoption of heavier drive shafts, of abnormal diameter, which manifestly do not whip to so great an extent, because less resilient, but has occasioned a very material increase in cost of production.

These heavier shafts are also objectionable"v -and consequently cause less wear upontlne bearings, than will a shaft of the same length and lof abnormally large diameter.`

We have observed that thewhipping ac-V tion is better Yretardedby opposingunequal resistance `to the tendency of the shaft to swing in a circle. A fixed resistance of the tendency to travel to the left, for instance.

should be met by either a greater or lessresistance to travel .tothe right." Moreover,

it is obvious that, inbrder for the shaft to travel in` a circular path, the whipping por- Specification of Letters Patent. Y Y Patentd Dec. 9., 1919 l Application'filed July V15, 1918.. Serial Na24:5,(107.1.yl g A soV tion must move upwardly and downwardly, 1

at some point in the circle. AThis resistanceV maybe appliedas desired, but itis to be noted that, if equal resistance ismoderately applied to movement inv all directions, thev whipping action will not be entirely climi# nated. v

Our invention therefore, by" providing part of this specification, we have .illusf trated a-preferredv embodiment ofk our invention, and have chosen to-ilflustratethe invenf tion applied to the drive shaft of an auto- VIn the drawings-- s Figure 1 is a plan view,partlyinsection,.

illustrating the invention applied to a drive Fig.'2 is an elevation in detail; vand Fig. 3 is a detail of the Vspring connection.

Y j The invention comprises preferably a split bearing l, adapted to surround the shaft 2.

Fixed to any convenient part ofL an automobile, suchas a cross-member, is-asocket member 3, here shown as comprised of two plates 4 and 5, shaped to receive a metallic ball 6, provided with a screw threaded shank The plates 4 and are preferably secured to the cross-member by bolts, as shown in Fig. 1.

Secured to the shank 7 is a bar 8, preferi' i I ably provided with an inwardly screw threaded socket to receive said shank. The.V

disposition of the several elements is such that the bar 8, when connected as described, will assume a position adjacent the bearing 1.

Surrounding the bar 8 is a split .collar comprised of two plates 9 and 10 having interior faces grooved to effect a sliding contact with the said bar. Said plates are provided with apertures through which extend bolts 11 and 12. As shown in Fig. 1, the

the adjacent face of the plate 10, the end of said projection being screw threaded to receive a nut 17.

A coiled tension spring 18 is connected in any convenient manner to the lower` portion of the bar 8. The other end of this spring is provided with a hook 19 which eX- tends through a slot 2O in a bracket 21, fastened to any convenient part of the autou mobile. The spring is so positioned that its resiliency is directed to pull the bar 8 toward the bearing 1. It therefore follows that any lateral movement of the bar 8 away from the shaft (or to the left, in the embodiment shown in the drawing) will be resisted by the spring. A movement of the bar to the right will not be resisted by the spring, since the hook 19 will ride along the slot 20, which slot should be made of suf cient length to prevent any compression of, and consequent resistance by, the spring 18.

The operation ofy the device is clear. Through the ball and socket connection of the bar 8, it is rendered free to swing longitudinally of the shaft, and also laterally thereof, But the spring 19 resists lateral movementof the bar to' the left, and permits suchY movement in an opposite direction. Vertical movement of the bar 8 is not possible, and any vertical movement of the bearing causes the collar formed by the plates 9 and 10 to slide along` the bar 8 against the frictional resistance imposed by the springs 13 and 14.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have devised means for imposing a yielding resistance to verticaljmovement of the shaft or bearing;v separate means Vfor imposing unequal yielding resistance to lateral movement of the shaft in opposite directions, and at the same time allowing for any longitudinal movement of the shaft at all times.

It is obvious that in actual practice of the invention lubricating devices, such as oil cups, should be applied to all points where there is frictional contact..V Since these devices form no part of our invention, they are not Vshown in all instances where they would be necessary.

arious modifications of the invention may be suggested to those skilled in the art 'to which the invention appertains, but we desire to secure by Letters Patent all such embodiments thereof as fall fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

It is to be understood that, while we have shown a member mounted to assume a vertical position adjacent the shaft, the member might just as well be mounted to extend laterally above or below the shaft. 1n this event, the lateral movement of the member, the bearing, or the shaft, as herein desc ibed, both in the specification and claims, might properly be termed a vertical movement,

and vice-versa. The appended claims cover this mechanical equivalent.

What we claim is:

1. A device of the character described comprising, in combination with a rotatable shaft, a floatable bearing engaging the shaft, means for yieldingly resisting any vertical movement ofthe bearing, and means for'imposing resistance to lateral movement thereof, while permitting longitudinal movement of the shaft and bearing.

2. A device of the character described comprising, in combination with a rotatable shaft, a floatable bearing engaging the shaft, a swinging element'having its free portion adjacent the bearing, means on the element for yieldingly resisting vertical movement of the bearing, and supplemental meansfor yieldingly opposing resistance to lateral movement of the bearing, both said means permitting longitudinal movement of the f bearing and shaft.V

.GEORGE M. BIGKNELL. HUGH H. o. wenn. e 

